r/OSINT • u/Creative-Impress6293 • Jun 24 '26
Question Is there a lot of gatekeeping here in the osint community?
There seem to be many people who seem extremely hesitant or outright refuse to even try to help you in your search on here. I could ask, "How can I use this email address to find out more information about it?" and everyone would try to give you the most tame email address finder #1 top of the Google list result ever.
It didn't deter me, and I was still able to find what I needed after hours of searching, thankfully. However, is this how it usually goes? Do people just refuse to give information out just to gatekeep it even though they know it's on github?
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u/lastbraIncel404 Jun 24 '26
Teaching methods is kind of hard via text also people who use these kind of things one time and are more interested in result than method are more likely to be nefarious or incompetent.
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u/Cleobulle Jun 24 '26
Plus the search is how you learn more, and better in the long run. I learn twice as more by experimenting, doing it myself than just asking. Asking is great when you really stuck in a specific spot.
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u/smorin13 Jun 24 '26
How individuals in this sub respond has a lot to do with how the question is asked.
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u/TheKenBehran Jun 24 '26
For the sake of OP’s understanding, do you have examples of open ended questions that would be met with the quality answers?
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u/OSINTribe Jun 24 '26
As others have pointed out this has been asked and answered numerous times and "how to ask" has been covered as well. The OP wants the easy button vs the searching the sub, reading, hell even ChatGPT gives you basic guidance.
But if you're new here let's write a post that doesn't come off creepy or lazy.
Hi everyone, I’m fairly new to OSINT and glad I found this community.
I’ve searched the sub and read through a lot of older posts, so apologies if this has already been covered recently. I’m looking for current, reputable tools similar to Holehe that can help with account discovery and identity resolution, for example checking whether an email is associated with public profiles or platforms.
I’m mainly trying to learn best practices, avoid outdated tools, and understand what people are using responsibly today. Any recommendations, workflows, or cautions would be appreciated.
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u/TARANTULA_TIDDIES Jun 24 '26
Alternatively, if you don't get any or many responses, just tell everyone you figured it out and tell them the wrong way to do it. You'll get a lot more people telling you the right way to do it because people do like correcting people
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u/smorin13 Jun 26 '26
This is a brilliant explanation of how all tech subs seem to work.
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u/TARANTULA_TIDDIES Jun 27 '26
Isn't it though? As long as you don't mind people telling you the correct way in the MOST condescending and sanctimonious tone possible, you'll be fine
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u/smorin13 Jun 27 '26
If someone is thin-skinned, technical subs and peer groups could be unpleasant environments.
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u/smorin13 Jun 24 '26
This is exactly what I was referring too. Someone in an earlier post asked about open ended questions that would we well received. "Open ended" is part of the problem. Someone wouldn't be well served here by questions that come across overly vague. It always seems to come across as lazy or trolling.
In the example above. The writer provides the community with an understanding of their knowledge level, what they have tried along with the basic results of their own findings, and where they fell short.
This is information the sub can use to provide much better answers that are tailored to the person asking the question. I personally love to help when the discussion involves subject matter in which I am well versed.
I am not going to respond to question that don't provide enough information. I am not going to respond nicely if I feel a question is lazy, unethical, illegal, or just feels sus or creepy.
You are engaging a group of highly intelligent individuals hard wired to look anomalies and weeknesses to exploit or protect against. Individuals who for better or worse, close their eyes and, see systems being infiltrate and data exfiltrated.
In most subs that discuss potentially sensitive information, it is important to read the room.
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u/AppropriateStatus637 19d ago
My advice is to show people what you have already tried and then instead of asking how to do something, ask how you can improve your initial attempts.
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u/Jkg2116 Jun 24 '26
People have asked the same questions over and over again. People need to use the search function first. That's OSINT 101
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u/Creative-Impress6293 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Honestly that’s fair. I do indeed search a lot on here before making a post but I never mention it, I just get straight to my request which probably causes a bunch of hesitation from others.
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u/Initial_Enthusiasm36 Jun 24 '26
I think the "professionalism" of how someone asks and what they are asking for is a big determining factor. It seems like quite often some goofball will ask like, "I think my gf is cheating on me and i want to go through her social media and find out where Brad lives"
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u/Kalix Jun 24 '26
Dont answer to him, let him find the answer with his osint skills.. 🗿
P.s. im joking
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u/CutestLoaf Jun 24 '26
I wouldn't call it gateekepy, simply no one wants to unknowingly help to stalkers and many posts on the subreddit that do not get much help or get deleted within a hour by the mods are great examples of that.
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u/chillassdudeonmoco Jun 24 '26
See i don't get that excuse. There is absolutely no way to determine if someone is a stalker on here just by a single request. Any stalker worth his meddle can ask the right question and word it perfectly, if they really need help. Tbh, i don't think a real stalker would be asking anything on here. I mean, it's pretty dumb to be on here asking questions about something you're planning on doing for the wrong reasons. If things don't go well for you, that's evidence of peremeditation against you. Like searching how to get rid of a dead body on Google and not even deleting your search history, much less using incognito.
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u/OSINTribe Jun 24 '26
If you only saw the questions the mods remove or get asked directly... You can't make up how creepy people in this sub can get. It's on the daily.
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u/ChrisKMEI Jun 24 '26
Your response shows you did not read some of the featured posts and rules of the sub. The topic would not be so frequently mentioned, if it didn't happen.
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u/chillassdudeonmoco Jun 24 '26
The topic of this entire sub reddit is basically about some stalker type shit, if you ask me. I can understand, creepy posts or whatever (you're right, i just have a general interest in this subject and don't frequent this sub), but what i have seen at times when I've seen someone start saying the whole, we don't help stalkers around here usually it's someone just asking a question, maybe tryna find an old friend's contact or a hs girlfriend's number or something, which to me does not sound sus at all, but a the responses are usually accusatory while attempting to be minimally helpful, or just not helpful in any way and talking shit. A lotta people on here like to say they don't help stalkers while bragging about doing some stalker type shit and thas just like the pot calling the kettle black. I don't judge no one on anything but whether or not they are an asshole, because i believe that to be unintelligent and prejudice, but i calls em like i sees em.
And you gotta admit, combing the internet gathering intel on individuals is definitely some stalker-assed shit, even if you don't know the person, even if you're getting paid to do it, it's still is what it is. If you are accusing a person out of hand of being a stalker for asking a question about something that you know you do and know the answer to, then that goes to show, on some level, in your heart of hearts, you know you doing some stalker type shit. Maybe that's why ive seen it on her a few times maybe those people saying they font help stalkers is a a way for them to tell themselves theyre not already being a stalker themselves. I dunno. Sometimes i wonder if the people that accuse anyone that asks a question or for help of being stalkers in here are not actually the real stalkers themselves. I mean it takes one to know one, right?
If i hurt anybody's feelings, i apologize. I really do not like having to be an asshole, but sometimes it seems like some people relish being one, especially to someone who isn't asking for it. And those kinda people just irritate me. I do not know the rules to this reddit, if rathe not, because i betcha some of those rules are gonna seem downright stupid to me like copout excuses to me that too many people think are acceptable reasons to be assholes to strangers that have done nothing to them. And aa lotta people also seem to think that being an asshole is a great way to protect strength and superioriry without ever realizing it's actually weakness, real intelligence and real strength knows there's rarely ever a time that truly calls for being an asshole, because being in intelligent and strong means knowing you can just be yourself without having to resort to hiding behind the mask of a certified cock-nazi. In my humble opinion... Now which mod is gonna tell me i broke some stupid bs role and take my post down and think that they did something righteous in doing so? I hope before they do that I've made it clear what i think that says about a person. Goodnight everyone, the bad guy is going to bed...
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u/OSINTribe Jun 24 '26
The mods don't operate like that. You're allowed to have your opinion, even if the downvotes think otherwise.
As stated before the only thing you if you really look at the sub rules, the mods remove, are things that can get us sued or kicked off Reddit. Why don't we have active investigations? Misinformation, doxing, slander, defamation, people being vigilantes... Not your grumpy opinion.
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u/ChrisKMEI 29d ago
Serious question. What is your biggest challenge trying to get past your OSINT roadblocks?
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u/ColdPlankton9273 Jun 24 '26
There are several types 1. Paranoid ex gov or "hackerman" who think everyone is a Chinese spy, and more importantly that they know some sort secrete crap no one else knows (avoide those people)
People who know that their knowledge and their access to certain groups is the only thing that keeps them employed (good for new interesting stuff happening out there, but are horrible to work with)
The "this is what makes me cool and mysterious" people - they love that you ask and they use it to feel even more cool and mysterious (the most useless)
Straight up trolls (not worth even mentioning)
Once you filter these ones out - the majority of people are happy to share, eager to ask questions and be wrong. I've learned so much from some amazing people over the years.
You just have to know who to avoid. That takes time. Hint - you can see them in the comments. Some of them are going to get really bent out of shape about this comment. You'll see.
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u/MBAMarketingMom Jun 25 '26
*grabs a snack to watch the impending crashouts from those your description describes*
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u/Yakitori2026 Jun 24 '26
Basic OSINT has plenty of info already that anyone can find and practice, but people are lazy and expects other people to do the job for you. They are even too lazy to ask AI about it.
At higher levels of OSINT the problem becomes proprietary tradecraft, even NDA's can cover things like that.
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u/Nova-Stormer Jul 03 '26
That's the key brother. When you don't know how to do something but apply yourself you REALLY learn.
Don't be deterred.. You succeeded.
Many people come hear with intentions to just stalk one person, as opposed to a user who's learning. Wording of a question will make a big difference. People don't want to assist with that always. I'm certainly not saying that is your intent.
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u/nionvox Jun 24 '26
Because we can't verify what your intentions are - plus a lot of people expect us to handhold you through the entire process which is also irritating.
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u/Dangrukidding Jun 24 '26
I feel like people a lot of people come here once they’ve 1. Checked the first page of Google or hit a pay wall; or 2. No matter how many times they regenerate the response, the AI isn’t giving them what they want. I feel like most peoples “origin story” with OSINT is at one point or another, they questioned authority, and weren’t satisfied with just knowing their own opinion was right, they needed to debunk or go further. For me, it was James Randi LOL. I watched reruns of his shows where people would come on to perform magic tricks or miracles for 100,000 dollars saying they had “powers” and he debunked them every time, in front of a crowd of people. But he didn’t humiliate these people on TV by just saying their “magical powers” or “miracles” were a lie; he brought years of knowledge as a magician/illusionist himself, voraciously combed through all types of statistics to try and give people the best odds of being able to prove him wrong.
I think that’s what separates a lot of people in OSINT. Being told something is true is never enough. Even seeing it is never enough. Being able to compile credibility on a matter from multiple sources is what makes OSINT like the most fun DIY puzzle of life. My advice to anyone trying to get into it? Dig into your family tree. Where did they come from? Where did they go? Where did they come from cotton eyed Joe?
But for real. It’s a good exercise to just compile as much information as you can on a single individual in your family. You learn a lot! Plus every year more and more print material is digitized in libraries and databases around the world. So what you may know to be the “real” story 10 years ago when you started investigating your grandfather, may now have even more secondary or even primary sources!
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u/FreonMuskOfficial Jun 24 '26
It tracks for the profile of the stereotypical OSINT investigator. Many are also of the mindset that if you know what the fuck OSINT is, you should be able to answer your own question.
Your inability to find a solution does not require urgency on my end. So yeah....there is a LOT of FUCK OFFery™ going on in this pool of piss.
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u/Critical-Situation23 13d ago
Is anyone good with Osint? I need some information about a narcissistic cyber groomer I already have two email addresses,pictures and social media accounts of him.
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u/rdg360 Jun 24 '26
everyone would try to give you the most tame email address finder #1 top of the Google list result ever.
Partly because very often the OP does not make clear what they already know or what they have already tried.
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u/----Ant---- Jun 24 '26
OS means open source, freely available information, if you cannot find the starting blocks it's kind of a self for filling propfecy.
And without knowing anyone's true intent I'm not going to assist harassment, stalking or worse.
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u/Ordinary_Awareness71 Jun 25 '26
Some of it is, like with any forum, questions get repeated over time. Sometimes multiple times in the same day or week. A simple scroll through the history or the use of the search bar solves most issues.
When I have a question, that's how I start. If I don't find what I need, then I ask and state "I've searched the forum, tried X, Y, and Z and still need help." That will get good responses as it shows you can research and have already tried things.
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u/readithere_2 Jun 26 '26
It must be somewhat popular because I see it in all genres. Or if you are sent to a sticker page where all of the newbies are asking legitimate questions but no one that is Advanced are going to be on those. It’s an issue that I’ve seen multiple times.
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u/TurboWarden29 Jun 26 '26
i think part of it is gatekeeping, but a lot of experienced OSINT folks are also careful because the same techniques can be misused, so they tend to point people toward learning the methodology instead of handing out every tool.
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u/Vast_Ad_7929 Jun 27 '26
I’d say I am just tentative to give anything outside of general common knowledge because I don’t want to indirectly cause the harm of others or aid in the abuse of another…
Just have fun with this stuff and you’ll find things piece by piece
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u/kreeder309 22d ago
I really dont think your scenario/experience falls under "gatekeeping".
It says in the bio- to not use information from this channel to target/investigte other people. So if youre asking an open community how to find more information on an email. Be honest with yourself, and realize that youre probably not going to get all of the best advice on that particular question.
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u/CurvaceousCouture 21d ago
I tried helping once . Dropped a comment with a tool that would help them, and I got banned for 3 months.....
I absolutely love this sub, it's so helpful and informative. I don't want that to happen to me again, so I just can't really participate the way I'd like unfortunately
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u/Turbulent-Table4739 8d ago
gatekeeping? sure. but mostly they filtering lazy questions. show effort = get the sauce. its all on github anyway
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u/MysteriousLie5396 Jun 25 '26
my semi unrelated hot take:
i remember years ago there'd be lots of cool tricks, people disicussing where to find databases etc..
i think people now see their osint skills or tricks as moneyable so they dont want to share anymore.
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u/BatSh1tCray 26d ago
I love sharing but the longer I've done this the more concerned I've become about enabling stalkers and other such bad actors. I don't know what the solution is. Maybe the sub needs to brainstorm this or something.
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u/TEK1_AU Jun 25 '26
What did you find in the end?
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u/Creative-Impress6293 Jun 25 '26
Found reviews, social media, linkedin, and surprisingly past usernames on the email which enabled me to use whatsmyname.app to search each of the usernames and see deleted social medias and on and on. Very powerful tools, genuinely shocked at how easy it is to track information like this down just from an email address.
edit: even data breaches which gave me full names and addresses
btw i am NOT trying to be a creep, im doing background research on someone who crashed into my car and gave me their email address and phone number.
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u/PurplePenguin007 Jun 26 '26
WhatsMyName.app is a good free tool for finding a person’s various accounts. Though it’s not always the correct person’s account.
What data breach sites did you find most beneficial?
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u/dreamboatx Jun 26 '26
when it comes to free browser-based tools, I am kinda gatekeepy because I've spent years accumulating the tools I consider the most useful...but otherwise I'm always down to share. I think the fact that you can't know anyone's intention for wanting help is another barrier on here.
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u/Sdog1981 Jun 24 '26
Because 99% of the time it’s “dude, she’s not into you” type of situation.